UK Banks Borrowed More than £640bn From US Federal Reserve . Are We Beginning to Get the Picture?

British banks borrowed more than $1 trillion (£640bn) from the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis, led by Barclays following its swoop on the US business of Lehman Brothers.

The disclosures came because the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act forced the Fed to reveal which banks and companies it lent money to in an effort to shore up the financial system from the end of December 2007 onwards.

It released the details of more than 21,000 individual transactions on its website on Wednesday, which showed that British banks represented more than a third - about $1.5 trillion - of the $3,300bn lent by the US authorities to prop up the financial sector.

Barclays borrowed $863bn from the Fed, with almost half coming in overnight loans through the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, a programme established by the central bank to help those banks that deal in US Treasuries.

Barclays has since repaid all its loans and said that much of its then borrowing was down to its purchase of Lehmanís US business.

Royal Bank of Scotland borrowed $446bn, Bank of Scotland $181bn, Abbey National $19bn and HSBC borrowed less than $10bn

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2636232/posts

Madisonian

12-02-2010, 05:28 PM

Let's see here...
If I borrowed 863 billion from Barclay's, I am sure I would owe them interest.
Since they borrowed that from the US government, which is you and me, they borrowed the equivalent of about $2800 for every person in the country.